Method of making phonogram-blanks



(No Model.) I I A v T. A; EDISON.

NHOD 0F MAKING PHONOGRAM BLANKS.

No. 400550-. Patented Apr.v 2,1889.,

ill C. C'

THT-2 L UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

THOMAS A. EDISON, OF LLEWELLYN PARK, NEIV JERSEY.

METHOD OF MAKING PHONOGRAM-BLANKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 400,650, dated April 2, 1889.

Application filed October 17 1888. Serial No. 288,361. (No model.)

To all whom, it Amay concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. EDISON, of Llewellyn Park, in the county of Essex, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful VImprovement in Methods of Making Phonogram-Blanks, (Case No. 809,) of which the following is a specification.

In my application filed September 19,1888, Serial No. 285,794, is shown and described a collapsible phonogramcylinder-that is, one which can be folded into a flat shape for transmittal by mail or otherwise.

My present invention relates to the method of making such collapsible phonogram-blanks.

In carrying my invention into effectl wrap a sheet of paper or other suitable flexible material upon a tapering cylindrical form or core, so that the edges of the paper meet, and I secure the said edges togetherby pasting a thin strip of tissue-paper upon the outside. I then dip the paper on the core into melted material, such as a wax, or a mixture of salts of fatty acids, such as oleate of lead and palmitate of magnesium. This material adheres to the surface of the paper and forms a coating which can be indented by the recording-point of 'the phonograph. This coating is turned oif in a lathe, soA that it has a true cylindrical surface, it being, after dipping, of a tapering shape corresponding to that of the core on which the paper is wrapped.

By means of a suitable tool or kmachine I then scrape the indenting material off the surface of the paper on two narrow lines directly opposite each other and extending the whole length of the cylinder. This forms points on which the cylinder can be collapsed or folded into a flat form, the paper forming an edge for folding. The use of the strip of tissue-paper for joining the edges, in place of overlapping the edges and securing them toget-her, prevents any irregularity of the inner surface of the cylinder, and as the strip of tissue-paper is covered with the sound-recording material it does not affect the external surface of the phonogram-blank.

The above-described process is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows the paper wrapped and secured upon the core, the view being in elevation. Fig. 2 shows the same after dipping in section.Y Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the core on the line 3 8 of Fig. 2, with the paper on it, after scraping off the material on two lines; and Fig; 4 is a perspective view of the complete phonogram-blank.

A is the tapering cylindrical core made of suitable metal, and B is the sheet of paper or other flexible material Wrapped thereon and secured at its meeting edges by the thin strip of tissue-paper a, a portion of which is broken away in the drawings to show the edges of the paper.

In. dipping the cylinder into the melted sound-recording material it is held by its handle C. After dipping and turning off the cylinder is as illustrated in Fig. 2-a paper having a coating, b, of the material, which receives the record, and having a tapering bore and a true cylindrical outer surface. Before or after removing the phonograin-blank from the core the material is scraped from the surface of the` paper on two lines, c c, eX- actly opposite each other and extending the whole length of the cylinder. It will be seen that the cylinder can be folded together on these lines, and then forms a flat body suitable for inclosing in an ordinary envelope, and such body may readily be drawn out again into cylindrical shape and placed upon the cylinder of the phonograph, or upon a false shell placed on said cylinder.

What I claim is- 1. The method of making a collapsible phonogram-blank, which consists in folding flexible material into cylindrical form, covering the same with sound-recording material, and removing such material on two opposite lines, substantially as set forth.

2. The method of making a phonogramblank, which consists in folding -iiexible material into cylindrical shape, with its edges meeting, securing such edges by a thin strip pasted on the outside of the cylinder, and covering said cylinder with sound-recording material, substantially as set forth.

3. The method of making a collapsible phonogram-blank, which consists in wrapping flexible material upon a core, securing it together at its edges, dipping it in sound-reeording material, so that the same adheres to roo its surface, and removing such material on two linesv opposite each other, substantially as set forth.

Il. The method of making a Collapsible phonogram-blank, which consists in wrappin g exible material upon a tapering eoi'e, securing it together at its edges, dipping it into sound-recording material which adheres to its surface, turning off such material into cylindrieal form, and removing such material on 1o two lines opposite each other, substantially as set forth.

This specification Signed and witnessed this 15th day of October, 1888.

THOS. A. EDISON. TVitneSSeS:

WILLIAM PELZER, A. W. KIDDLE. 

